Former Minister for the Environment; Climate Change; Disability Services

Carpenter Government encourages streamlined LPG conversion plan

5/09/2006 3:00 PM

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5/09/06

Criticism of the Commonwealth Government’s LPG subsidy scheme is warranted, says the Western Australian Government.

Assisting Planning and Infrastructure Minister Tony McRae says the Howard Government has been invited to work with the State Government to streamline LPG conversions.

“WA led the way with family LPG conversions in Australia and had the Commonwealth co-operated, we could have co-ordinated a response to the issues currently stalling conversions across the country,” Mr McRae said.

“Our experience would have alerted the Commonwealth to the bottlenecks caused by labour and conversion kit shortages which have arisen from the incredible increase in demand.

“The Howard Government has really caused a major problem, with installers finding parts hard to come by and demand outstripping current capacity.

“We congratulated the Federal Government for getting onboard but it is now vital they join with us to streamline the process for families to be reimbursed and to ensure their cars are compliant with their registration requirements.”

A combined approach would allow families to receive the $3,000 in subsidies by filling in just one form and would make sure that conversions taking place were safe.

“In WA, we require all conversions to be inspected after installation to make sure they are safe,” the Minister said.

“The Federal Government’s system has no such safety check in place and that is a huge concern to us.

“I will write to Federal Minister Ian MacFarlane again, to invite the Commonwealth to join with us to make sure this program works to benefit Australian families looking to reduce their fuel bills.”